Clawing to escape the belly of the beast here in Hollywood. To commiserate, email my name assistantatlas at yahoo.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Disgruntled NBC Ex-Employees Dish About Today: 5.48

Sorry for the lack of posting lately....things in my life having been blowing up lately, from laptops to relationships and everything in between. Except the career, which has been going well, but leaves me with no time to deal with the explode-y parts of my life.

As a treat for my absence, I took the time to verify some gossip that came my way....well, as best I could anonymously. And since I know for a fact that you kids like gossip, I thought I'd pass along some I've received in repeated email conversations with a recently-laid-off NBC employee. Apparently, it was the "Jeff Zucker, Quitter" post that brought 'em my way. So now, with the blessings of the downsized Employee X, I present some inside gossip for one of TV's remaining cash cows, NBC's Today (show).

Let's start with Matt Lauer, since he's the official alpha male at Today. Alpha Matt.I kinda expected him to be prissy, and I was somewhat right, according to my sources. Apparently though, it's not too bad-- tolerable at least-- and it at least seems to serve a purpose: it makes him a very reliable on-air personality. So he's demanding, a little arrogant, but when it comes time to put up or shut up, Matt usually puts it up very nicely. Truth be told, I think Employee X had a mild unrequited crush on Matt Lauer. Don't worry, that's not the good gossip.

Now, we all know that Meredith Vieira stepped in to replace Katie Couric's legs. But do you know why she did? Know why they didn't have Ann Curry, who had appeared to be next in line to sit next to Matt, step in?

It's because everyone working on Today apparently just wants Ann Curry to shut the hell up. Don't speak. Smile.This woman, this Ann Curry, manages to just about ruin every single thing she does. Everyone, but especially the segment producers, who fight over who has to use her in their respective segments, passing her around like the drunk girl at a party no one wants to take care of. You know. That girl.

So please, Ann Curry, if you are reading this, please know that your fellow employees, those who are left anyway, want you to talk less. And not just that, but really try to listen when other people speak. Also, really do your best to actually understand what they are saying as best you can. I know it probably will hurt your brain, but try.

As for Ms. Vieira, it's apparently true that most staffers really like her. Even the somewhat-overblown-somewhat-fictionalized Katie Camp (fictional because no one's actually loyal enough to be in a "Camp" anymore in Hollywood) have been won over. Meredith's very together, works well on the fly, works it consistently, and is frustratingly perfect according to everyone who has heard anything about her. Katie who?So congratulations, Meredith Vieira, because one of the snarkier bloggers on the Internet and in Hollywood (two rather snarky places, generally speaking) could not find anyone who has anything bad to say about you at all. And that, Meredith Vieira, makes me think you're probably owed sainthood. Or a few Emmys.

And finally, there's everybody's favorite weatherman, Al Roker. Oh, Al. It really was when I read Employee X's description of you that I knew I would have to publish the exchange. Hard out here for the Al.Perhaps you would be best served by my quoting of the original passage from Employee X:"...Al Roker is actually the sh**. [ed. note: Passage edited for adult language] Pretty much everybody likes Al just because he's Al. Skinny or fat, it doesn't matter. And he's a friggin' pimp, too. It's weird, but I think he seems to be able to work it with a bunch of people, little side projects fo' the Benjamins. I'm telling you, Al Roker is a pimp."

And that my friends, is what I leave you with for Today. The thought that Al Roker is a pimp.

6 Comments:

I saw Ann Curry interviewing Julian McMahon from Nip/Tuck about a year ago.

To paraphrase she was saying to him that it was amazing the career that he has had coming from his background.

She had obviously not read his bio. He is the son of a former Prime Minister of Australia. If ANYONE would have had a privledged upbringing it would have been him, and yet he had managed to scrape himself out of the silver lined gutter and make it in hollywood.

More interesting question about Julian was why he used to often have dinner with nice young men when he was married. Helps when you know the maitrede of one of his favourite restaurants :)

I worked with Matt Lauer at the Today Show a bit. He was always fine. Not overly personal, but a good enough guy. He never paid much attention to me, but never gave me any problems at all...didn't seem arrogant.

Katie was there at the time. I heard stories about her, but never dealt with her, so I'd feel uncomfortable saying anything.

Worked with Al a few times...very friendly, very pleasant, nice to be around.

Interestingly, the first time I was there (I was extremely young, an intern on school break) your good friend Jeff Zucker was there. I wish I could share scary stories about him, but he was always quite nice to me. I was a high strung perfectionist at the time, so maybe he liked that...but I always got along great with him.

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